“Briana’s softball bag and bat were by the door. I’m always tripping over the fucking things. I picked up the bat and swung at him. I got him in the ribs, then the head when he dropped her and turned on me.” She sniffs, taking a few slow, shuddering breaths. I do too. I don’t like where this is going. “She slid down the wall when he let go…just flopped like she had no bones. I thought she was dead. I should have swung at him harder. He came at me and tried to take the bat. He was punching me, and we ended up on the ground.”
I catch Evie’s eye over Cara’s head, but she turns back to Briana too quickly to ask her anything.
Declan’s arms are folded tightly over his chest, his eyes boring into the side of Cara’s head. He’s leaning closer with every word she speaks.
Cara lets out a shuddering sigh as she slumps in my arms. Declan’s knuckles whiten. “Bree crawled to the table, grabbed a lamp, and hit him with it. I was able to get up and…hit him with the bat again. He fell, and he didn’t get up.” The last words come out robotically.
Fuck.
“Cara honey, go to Declan. I’m going to make a call.” She tenses up but lets me pass her into Declan’s waiting arms. It’s not until this moment that I fully take in how much he’s changed in the last few months. He’s always been tall, just like the rest of us, but he was lean. When Cara would corner him in the past, they were close to the same size. Now, though? He’s huge. Looking at his face, he somehow looks broken, but also stronger than I’ve ever seen him as he wraps her up carefully.
“I’m calling Maverick,” I tell him as I move away. Sounds like it would be a really fucking smart idea to get a lawyer down here.
By the time I finish with Maverick, the doctor is stepping toward Cara. Evie strokes Briana’s arm and then moves to intercept me. I pull her into my arms, needing to feel her.
“How is she, love?”
“They still have to do some tests. They’re worried about swelling in her brain.” She looks back at a teary Cara. “She’s a friend of yours?”
“Yeah, she’s Ransom’s assistant. She’s a really good friend of mine. We’re partners in a business too. That’s her sister on the bed.”
“Oh, no.” Oh, no is right. Everything changed for those women tonight. Violence touched them in a way they may never recover from.
“Let go of me, right fucking now.” Cara’s voice is ice cold as she pushes away from Declan. I’ve heard that voice come out of her when she’s tearing a strip off someone on the phone, but never directed at any of us. He’s fucked up somehow. “You don’t know a fucking thing about me. Turn around and walk the fuck away. Now.”
Declan takes a step towards her, but I swear she shoots literal ice daggers at him. He staggers back, shaking his head. “Fine. You want me gone, I’m gone.” His face cracks as he turns away, but he doesn’t spare me a glance, heading straight out the doors.
From the day she met him, Cara’s always looked at Declan with warmth. And yeah, a lot of ‘let me get in your pants. She’s never, not once, looked at him like this. Like she wishes he’d disappear.
I let go of Evie, wrapping her hand in mine and pulling her to Cara. “What just happened? What did he do?”
Her face warms as she looks at me. Her mouth twists in a rueful smile. “He fixed me.”
“I don’t understand, honey.”
She shrugs, mouth trembling. “I thought I was in love with him. And he just made it very clear how he feels about me. So he fixed it. I’m done with him. He set me free.” She turns, moving into the cubicle with her sister, huddling close, never looking back.
30
COLTON
By the time Evie’s shift is over, I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck. I want nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep for a month, preferably wrapped around Evie.
“Thank you,” I whisper in the van’s darkness. The parkade is already busy, but we’re cocooned in a peaceful bubble. It’s a welcome change from the always busy Emergency Room.
Evie squeezes my hand. “What for?”
“For taking care of Cara.”
She smiles softly, turning in her seat to look at me. “It’s what I do. She’ll be ok, and I think her sister will be too.” She bites her lip. “I’m sorry your friend was hurt tonight. What she…what they both went through is awful. Will Cara be ok? With the police, I mean? We can’t really hold them off too much longer.”
I lean my head back, studying her beautiful face. Four months ago, my obsession started with this face. Now, months later, it’s only grown. Having those brown eyes looking at me like that, so much concern in them, I’m way past obsessed.
Now that I know her, know her grace, her strength, her compassion, I am never getting over her. She’s it. And the care, the concern she showed Cara? The way she rallied around her and got the cops to back off tonight. It was epic.
“Mav and I made a bunch of calls. Ransom’s been looped in, and Nick is out talking to anyone that might have a lead on what the cops are thinking. I don’t want…”
“What? What are you worried about?”